A New Year means New Toys

Updated on May 8, 2011
The world is constantly changing, and people are trying to keep up.  However, with each New Year come new advances in technology, new upgrades, and new toys.  On April 25, Nintendo officially confirmed that they would be launching the successor to the Wii gaming console. 

Nintendo's Trademarked Logo

Nintendo is a multinational corporation that is located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in September 1889 by Fussajiro Yamauchi.  Nintendo has slowly developed into a video game company, and has become one of the most influential companies in the industry. It is Japan’s third most valuable listed companies with a market value of over $85 billion (US). Nintendo of America is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team.

Nintendo translated from Japanese to English as “leave luck to heaven” roughly.  Nintendo sold over 565 million video game units and over 3.4 billion software units as of October 2010. The original Wii has sold 86.01 million from 2006 when the console was launched, to the end of March 2011. 

Coming in 2012, Nintendo will come out with the successor of the Wii. As an April 21 IGN article points out, the new console would retail anywhere between $350 and $400 depending on manufacturing costs.  The new controller would feature dual analog sticks along with the standard d-pad and trigger buttons. Like the Gamecube controller but not as specific.

Current Nintendo Wii

In a blog written by Ben Parr on Mashable.com says that some new specs would consist of the physical size of the 2012 Wii will be similar to the Xbox 360, along with a triple-core IBM Power PC chipset. The new console has the codename “Project Café.” It’s not the official name of the console though. The overall name of the console seems to be “Stream” but no final decision has been announced yet.  The article states that the controllers will be touch screen and in 3-D

Where as in The Dallas Morning News it reports that it doesn’t sound like this would be a 3-D console, but something completely different. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made a prediction about the console;

“We would like to propose a new approach to home video game consoles” with the Wii successor, Iwata said, without elaborating. “It’s difficult to make 3-D images a key feature, because 3-D televisions haven’t obtained wide acceptance yet.”

An April 25 article written on CNN Tech.com disclosed that the 2012 launch of the console was vague, however Nintendo said it would have a playable unit and more details about the new Wii model at the E3 Expo being held June 7-9 2011, in Los Angeles.

At this point a lot of things being said are all rumors. Each site or article that you read you will hear a different side of the story. Whether this side of the story is correct or not is unknown. All that we know at this point is that in 2012 a new Wii console will be released. 

E for Everyone

Updated April 28, 2011
I always find it interesting when I’m trying to purchase game and I get asked for my id. However, the next time I’m purchasing one and they don’t even card me at all, even though I’m buying the same type of game. It makes me curious on how many times does a kid who is not of age can purchase an M rated game and not be carded.

A study by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), reported in an April 22 PCMag.com article, found that video game retailers are quiet strict when it comes to enforcing the ratings of their video games, while music and video stores are least likely to check if the individual is of age. The article continued to state: that video game retailers are quiet strict when it comes to enforcing the ratings of their video games, while music and video stores are least likely to check if the individual is of age. The article continued to state:

Secret Shopper Results from over the years

The FTC recruited kids ages 13 to 16 to buy music, movie tickets, DVDs, and video games, without a parent, between November 2010 and January 2011. They were instructed to pick up movie tickets and DVDs for R-rated movies, CDs with parental advisory labels that warned of explicit content, and video games that were rated "M" for mature.

The FTC found that video-game stores were the strictest, only allowing 13 percent of the undercover teens to purchase mature or M rated content. That's down from 20 percent when the FTC last conducted this study in 2009. FTC sent teenagers into Best Buy, Game Stop, Kmart, Target, Toys R Us, and Wal-Mart to purchase the games.

The worst company that was selling video games rated “M” to shoppers was Wal-Mart, while the best retailer for carding shoppers was Target.

Where the ESRB puts the rating symbols and content descriptor

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a non-profit and self-regulatory body that was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association. The rating system that ESRB uses is voluntary, however all games that are sold by retail in the U.S. or Canada have to be rated by the ESRB. Several major retailers have policies to only stock or sell games that have been rated by ESRB. In an average year the ESRB will be assigned to rate over 1,000 video games. In 2010 the ESRB completed 1,638 rating assignments.

ESRB ratings were designed to provide brief and impartial information about the content of a video game. ESRB ratings consist of two equal parts the rating symbols which say what is age appropriate and then content descriptors which tell individuals what elements are in the game that made the board give that particular rating for that game. More information about rating symbols and content descriptors can be found here.

As an April 21 Globe and Mail article points out, the study was conducted right around the same time that when the FTC did their study it was at the time when the U.S. Supreme Court was debating this high profile case that was concerning the sales of violent video games.  Arnold Schwarzenegger former governor of California thinks that the video game industry isn’t preventing kids from purchasing violent games. He thinks that the government needs to step in.

Not everything is all fun and games.

Current Army Logo

Updated on May 8, 2011
It’s just a game, right? It’s not reality, and nobody gets hurt, it’s a form of entertainment.  For some it is, however over the past few years, the military has starting using it as a form of sharpening fighting skills to help the recruit more soldiers.

In 2002 the U.S. Army revealed America’s Army, it was the first and only free action game that provides training and career advancements and has become the most effective recruiting tool than all the other advertisements combined used by the Army. Since then there have been over 26 versions of America’s Army released.

The game is distributed by free download and is financed by the U.S. government.  According to a December 10, 2009 article called “America’s Army costs U.S. taxpayers $33 million” reports the annual budget for America’s Army, from 2000-2009 the budget ranged from $1.3 million to $5.6 million.

1930's Recruitment Poster 

The military has embrace video games to help recruit and train the new generations of gamers. These are gamers who usually play commercial games like Modern Warfare 2, reported in an August 2010 article on Live Science. The article continues by saying that there are few video games these days that combine physical carnage and mental anguish of warfare. The concept behind the game is not based on scoring due to the number of kills.  The goal of the game is to represent values and career options available within the Army.

The game itself starts gamers off in boot camp; it challenges the gamer in military training.  This allows the gamer to get an idea of what basic training will be like along with the fact that by the time the gamers become soldiers, and they get to the firing line with weapons, they are proficient from having the training from the video games.

America's Army 3 Trailer

America’s Army is not a video game that has extremely bloody kills. In order to make it more of a successful recruiting tool they tamed down the bloodier kills, which allowed the game to earn a “T for teen” rating.  Individuals are now able to start playing the game as early as 13.  That way by the time teens reach 17 they have had time to think about joining the Army.

Jaime Holguin wrote an article on March 2004 called “Army Recruits Video Gamers,” she cited a psychology professor Brad Bushman of the University of Michigan, who said, “America’s Army isn’t real enough.” Bushman goes on explaining that war should not be considered a game. Video game are not showing the truth, when you shoot someone in the video game all you see is a splatter or a bit of blood, you never see a person in agony or pain.

America's Army is just like real life. 

(Warning: Gunshot might scare you at first)

In the same article the game’s creator Col. Casey Wardynksi states, “kids aren’t stupid, they know if they come into the army there is a reason that we have rifles and tanks and all that stuff.” Gamer Bart Koscinski said you understand the risks if your going to join the army.